Commentary: Texas Senate debate has it all — name-calling, snark and a troll

With one U.S. Senate general-election debate down, one to go and Democrat Paul Sadler trying to shame Republican Ted Cruz into more, political junkies might wonder how many testy face-offs we can take.

As many as we can get.

Name-calling, interruptions, question-dodging and candidates’ faulty memories aside, it’s a rare chance for voters to see how they handle unanticipated questions or react to being pushed off-script.

It’s important to know about those seeking weighty offices, although the process is not always pretty.

“Yuck,” was the review from Texas Monthly‘s Paul Burka on last week’s televised Belo Debate between Cruz and Sadler.

Democratic consultant Harold Cook found the debate’s tone “a big turn-off,” saying, “There’s a fine line between political discourse and just being rude.”

Underdog Sadler was aggressive, interrupting when he thought Cruz gave a campaign line instead of a real answer. Cook said Cruz bordered on condescending. The candidates at times talked over each other.

Still, Cook said, people should watch the next debate Oct. 19, also televised from Dallas. KERA is producing it in partnership with news organizations including the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle.

Cook agrees with Sad- ler that if Texans knew about Cruz’s “fringe” positions, they wouldn’t support him. Cruz, for his part, says Sadler is pushing an “unapologetically liberal” view that isn’t in line with Texans’ beliefs.

“If Sadler had the resources to compete, this would be a jump-ball race,” Cook said. “If he doesn’t have the money to compete, I don’t even know what we’re talking about.”

Why a 2-debate limit?

Sadler, badly underfunded in the primary and far behind Cruz in a recent poll, said at the last debate he’s unsure how much money he has raised, although he said things are brighter.

Still, viewers learned some things from that debate – and I’m not talking about their clear differences on issues including health care (Cruz wants to repeal Obama- Care) and undocumented immigrants (Sadler supports the DREAM Act).

We heard Cruz – who mercilessly slammed Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for skipping candidate forums in the GOP primary – explain to Sadler his two-debate limit before the general election: “I understand that you are working very hard to get free media coverage, and it’s not our obligation to help you in that.”

We saw Sadler deny he ever supported an income tax, then clarify the next day that when he was a lawmaker in the 1990s, he sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment for an income tax. It came at a time when lawmakers were searching for a school-funding solution. Its proceeds would have been dedicated to education, and the proposal also would have drastically restricted school property tax rates.

We watched as Sadler lectured Cruz, “What you don’t do is do your job as a legislator worried that some troll will come along 10 years later or 20 years later and try to run a campaign against you.” We saw Cruz utter a line that’s surely unique in debate history: “I’m sorry, Mr. Sadler, you believe I’m a troll.”

No fairy-tale creature

If it makes a difference, Sadler told me later that he had in mind social-media trolls who post negative comments to Twitter posts: “It’s not the fairy-tale creature that you have in your mind.”

We learned that Cruz wouldn’t answer Sadler’s questions on whether the Republican is a “birther” who doubts President Obama’s citizenship.

“I don’t intend to go down rabbit holes and create distractions,” Cruz said when reporters pressed him afterward. “If I answer it, you’ll write about that.”

Yep.

If you’ve got questions you’re burning to see the candidates address, e-mail me before the next debate. And plan on watching. It can’t hurt you. As for whether it can hurt the candidates, I’ll leave the last word to the snarky Cook (who, ironically, thinks Sadler should cut back on the snark).

“I don’t think either candidate did themselves any harm” in the last debate, Cook said. “Because if you’re Sadler, how can you? And if you’re Cruz, the only way you could have done yourself harm is if you lost your cool.”